Brescia Launches EUR 426M T2 Pendolina-Fiera Tram Line

BRESCIA, ITALY – The City of Brescia broke ground on the EUR 426 million T2 Fiera–Pendolina tram line, a project awarded in June 2025 to a consortium led by Manelli Impresa (49.4%), with Alstom (26.95%) and Hitachi Rail (23.65%) holding minority stakes under a EUR 326 million construction contract from Brescia Mobilità. Construction is slated to span approximately four and a half years, targeting a 2030 operational launch. The 11.3-kilometre route will form the backbone of a wider sustainable urban mobility strategy aligned with Italy’s and the EU’s decarbonization targets.

What Is the Full Scope of This Project?

The T2 line will span 11.3 kilometres across Brescia, connecting the Pendolina neighbourhood in the city’s northwest to the Fiera exhibition district, with intermediate stops serving the city’s main residential and commercial areas. The total project value of EUR 426 million encompasses a EUR 326 million design-and-build contract and approximately EUR 100 million in additional costs—including land acquisition, technical consultancy, and ancillary infrastructure—though the exact breakdown of this gap was not disclosed by Brescia Mobilità. The line will feature modern stations and energy-efficiency technologies, yet specific station counts, tram vehicle specifications, and the energy-recovery systems to be deployed remain unspecified in publicly available documentation.

Key Project Data

How Does This Compare to Similar Projects?

Brescia’s T2 line, at approximately EUR 37.7 million per kilometre, sits in the upper range of European greenfield tram projects, where per-kilometre costs typically span EUR 20 million to EUR 45 million depending on land conditions, station density, and utility relocations. The investment aligns with a broader Italian rail modernization push: the national government is allocating an additional EUR 4 billion to upgrade the rail network, including EUR 2.2 billion from the 2025 Budget Act, while EUR 2 billion has been earmarked for 74 new Frecciarossa 1000 high-speed trains by 2030 (Source: Italian Budget Act, 2025; Webuild Value, 2025). Alstom’s participation in the Brescia consortium comes against the backdrop of a record EUR 27.6 billion in orders booked by the manufacturer in 2025, with a total backlog reaching EUR 104.4 billion (Source: Alstom, 2025). By contrast, the fully electric Blue Line Rail project in Lagos, Nigeria—another urban rail initiative targeting emissions reduction—reflects a parallel trend among mid-tier global cities seeking to decouple urban mobility from road-transport emissions, though its funding structure and per-kilometre cost differ substantially from the Italian context (Source: Afripoli, 2025).

Editor’s Analysis

Brescia’s T2 represents more than a municipal infrastructure upgrade—it signals that mid-sized Italian cities are now securing funding parity with metropolitan heavyweights for rail-based urban transit. When viewed alongside the EUR 63 million in additional EU co-financing Italy secured for 15 TEN-T projects under the CEF Transport 2021–2027 programme, Brescia’s tram line forms part of a coordinated, multi-layered investment strategy spanning local, national, and European levels. The EUR 100 million gap between total project value and the construction contract figure warrants scrutiny, as it likely harbours significant ancillary costs that will influence the final per-kilometre metric and could become a political flashpoint if overruns materialise before 2030.

FAQ

Q: When will the Brescia T2 tram line open for passenger service?
A: The T2 line is scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2030, following approximately four and a half years of construction that commenced with the groundbreaking ceremony in late 2025.

Q: What is the total cost of the Brescia T2 tram project and who is building it?
A: The total project cost is EUR 426 million, with a EUR 326 million construction contract awarded to a consortium of Manelli Impresa (49.4%), Alstom (26.95%), and Hitachi Rail (23.65%), overseen by Brescia Mobilità.

Q: How many stations will the T2 tram line have and what type of vehicles will operate on it?
A: Brescia Mobilità has not publicly disclosed the exact number of stations, vehicle specifications, or rolling-stock supplier for the T2 line at the time of the groundbreaking announcement.